Ice Cultivation Domain.

Reon aimed her gun at Utsu, she was only a few moments away from pulling the trigger. Hitori calmly watched from behind cause he knew her attack was not going to work.

Shot!

She shot Utsu with five bullets continuously before giving up cause it was clear to her… no damage was done to that Utsu.

But she had managed to gain its attention. It turned its head in her direction. She felt a chill run down her spine, if she fails right now, it meant suffering through a painful death and losing her avatar.

Although her gun trembled, she shot at the Utsu's head. The bullets went past through its head without even lifting off the hood.

Reon clicked her tongue, "cover me!" she asked for help as she opened her inventory.

Hitori was not sure what she doing or what she had planned but he did not have time for her shit. Hitori got out of the rock he was hiding behind.

Reon's expressions faded when she saw Hitori step out from the cover and step in the open. Then her eyes went back to the Utsu. That scary monster was approaching only her.

"Kori no Mahou," she heard Hitori whisper something behind her, "Ice spikes." she saw Hitori as he raised his hands and sharp, light blue color spikes came out from his hands.

Swipe!

The first Utsu dropped dead in front of her. She glanced to her side and saw Hitori staring at the Utsu.

"I am more experienced…" Hitori told her, "let me take the lead," she was left speechless.

Hitler received the notification after his spikes went through the Utsu's neck and tore it open.

It did not stop there, the spikes pierced other Utsus' bodies but only a few died.

[Killed a level thirteen Utsu]

[Killed a level sixteen Utsu]

[Killed level sixteen Utsu]

Hitori brought his hands down, "cool," he nodded in determination. He noticed that there was someone else beside him, "hide" he jumped towards the rock to take cover.

Reon, who was dumbstruck, soon back to her senses and rushed beside Hitori. Her eyes were wide in shock.

"Who… are you? And what is that magic? Are you a graduated mage? Or perhaps are you working at the ministry?"

"You do not need to be a graduate to use ice element, after all, it is the third most elemental spell taught at the academy after water and fire,"

"But you have such control over your mana! I have never seen something like that," Hitori glanced at her.

He smiled, "oh thanks, it must be because of my ice affinity."

Hitori's expressions changed suddenly, he lifted his head and took a glance around the area, "he is missing" he tapped his screen and opened the lair's map.

"Who is missing?"

There on the map, he saw twelve blue spots surrounding him. But three blue spots were missing. When he scrolled up, he saw three players had advanced ahead of the Utsu area.

Hitori held his cold stare at the screen for a while before saying, "we are leaving, Reon-san," he got up. An Utsu charged from behind.

"Eh?" she got up with him before she realized the Utsu behind her, "h- how do you kill them?" she asked in a panic.

Hitori took a step forward, "aim for its neck," he started running towards the center of the Utsu area, "that is where their core lies,"

Reon pulled the trigger.

Her bullet went past the Utsu's neck but this time, a dark light glowed out from its neck.

She received notification of her successful kill.

"Amazing," she glanced back at Hitori, "Hey, wait!" she pulled her guns into her lab coat's pocket and chased Hitori.

<soul liquefication activated>

<Cultivated mana: 3,089/80,000>

Reon killed a few more Utsus behind Hitori while Hitori ran through the middle of the area.

Hitori froze a few Utsus on the way.

"Oi… is he running away?" a player caught the sight of Hitori and Reon running away, "Leonine" he did not catch Hitori's game name but he managed to get Reon's game name.

"Chase them!" he raised his spear, "kill the traitors."

Hitori shook his head when he and Reon escaped the Utsu region, "stupid followers, do they even see their mighty leader around?"

"They should stop blaming us, see the chatbox,"

"Focus on the things around you, Reon-san, we can read the chats later," she felt sort of embarrassed at her actions.

"I apologize,"

"Pay attention, Reon-san, you are with a complete stranger who stared at you before," she took stopped running and took a step back.

"Right…" well, going back was not an option right now.

"Stay," Hitori stopped too, "on your guard," he continued, "although it is a game, it can lead to horrors in real life," he completed, and well, that was enough to scare the hell out of her.

A flame flickered in the pitch-black darkness. Reon's body jumped a little because Hitori suddenly lit a flame.

Hitori increased the flame in his hands and pulled them above his head.

Gray ruins, vines over the gravestones, algae had taken over the graves, and rotten wooden Christain crosses stood idle. It was an eerie atmosphere with dried-up trees against the dark graves.

"Ryu-san is this…"

"A graveyard, better watch your brains, Reon-san," Hitori walked deeper into the graveyard region.

He had his fire flame ready to attack in case a zombie or a ghoul attacked.

"Uh…" he heard a soft groan behind him, "Ryu-san, uh, I think we have a situation here…" Hitori turned around at Reon's words.

Four zombies approached Reon, she stood with her gun in her hands and waited for Hitori's orders.

'Something is not… is strange,' Hitori looked at one of the zombies and read its available description.

"Uh, Reon-san," he called her.

"Yes, tell me, shall I kill them?" she was clearly scared of the approaching zombies, "where is their core?"

"I think-" Hitori stopped when a zombie suddenly jumped in Reon's direction. She closed her eyes and pulled the trigger in the air.

The bullet pierced the zombie's guts but of course, that was not enough to kill it, "Icicle spears!" from behind, four spears of ice jumped out of Hitori's hands.

The first one entered the zombie's skull, and the second one landed on his face and pulled it down to the ground. The remaining two killed two zombies.

"Reon-san!" Hitori had to shout to wake her out of fear, "run!" he ordered.

Reon opened her eyes. She glanced around. Three zombies were dead on the ground, one stood in front of her. When her eyes fell on the graves, she saw more zombies coming out from the graves.

She jerked her body, turned around, and ran. Hitori took the lead, she kept up with him while checking behind her frequently.

"They are not zombies," Hitori told her, she moved her head back to the front, "they are Mahas."

"Mahas? What are they-?"

"I wish I knew, but I have never met a Maha in my life," Hitori increased his pace.

The map was open in front of him, he saw that the three players had already cleared the Maha region and were headed towards a divergent path.

Now Hitori had to face a fork in the middle of the path. He glanced at the two streets before returning to the map.

The three players had taken the left path, which was the shortest path, but of course, danger followed.

And then there was the right path, which was double the length of the left path, but not much danger. There may be hordes waiting for Hitori but if taken the other path, death awaits.

Reon broke the silence, "Where to now?" she asked.

"Say, Reon-san," Hitori lifted his head to the right side, "do you think we will be able to take on a level thirty boss on our own?"

"Huh? Why do we have to do it alone? We will wait for others to catch up and-"

"That is… quite not the answer to my question,"

Reon sighed, "if we both go all out then yes. You look strong anyway,"

Hitori turned to her, brought his flame near his face"Oh, I am just a veteran gamer," he gave her a slight smile.